


Anachronism

by kenmarlenn



Category: Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls Alternate Universe - Transcendence, Transcendence AU - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2020-10-28 22:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20785748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenmarlenn/pseuds/kenmarlenn
Summary: "Being a demon from the 21st century is hard when you live in the 41st. Hardly anyone remembers how to properly summon demons ... with humanity spread across the stars."Alcor finds himself summoned by a familiar soul to an alien planet. Dipper has two goals - figure out just who this soul is and why he can't figure out who they are, and explore the heck out of this planet.





	1. Stars

Being a demon from the 21st century is hard when you live in the 401st. First there’s the lack of summons. Hardly anyone remembers how to properly summon demons, let alone know the rituals for a specific demon like Alcor the Dreambender. 

The second problem is the reincarnation cycles. With humanity spread across the stars, when they reincarnate they could end up in an entirely different galaxy, which makes it harder to track them down. The only way he can easily find them is if they summon him, and the odds of that are— 

He feels the tug of a summons.

Alcor can tell that it’s someone familiar. They aren’t using his ‘family summoning circle’, but that means nothing at this point - even Mabel’s direct descendants have mostly forgotten how to do it, and Mizar themself hasn’t reincarnated yet. He is so sure he knows this soul that he is willing to ignore the shoddiness of the summoning materials. (The candles they’re using don’t even feel real, to be honest, like someone bought plastic battery-powered candles and called it good.) Even so, Alcor responds, whisked away in a puff of black smoke and golden sparks.

What first catches his attention are the stars.

He had spent many years, collectively, staring at the sky from nearly every part of Earth and has every position of every constellation at any time memorized. Even as centuries passed and some distant suns winked out, changing the view. But the sky here, visible outside a giant floor-to-ceiling window in front of him, is nothing he is used to. 

Above a rocky, mountainous horizon - in the starlight, he thinks the soil might be red - Alcor sees a multitude of stars that he has never seen. The air pollution from cities has made Earth’s starscape nearly invisible to the naked eye for years - Alcor would compare the sight to the stars he and his sister had been able to see from the roof of the Shack, but even then these are brighter, and bigger, and more. Mesmerized, staring up, up into the alien sky, Alcor doesn’t even think to look down until a small, impatient cough breaks the spell.

His eyes, turned brown and human in wonder, quickly shift back to their normal black and gold as his shadowy aura grows around him. Inky black crawls over his skin until he himself is only a shadow, glowing gold lines etching themselves like brickwork across him. “Who dares summon Alcor the Dreambender?” he bellows, peering down at his summoner. _Better to be professional, even if the soul is familiar_, he thinks, though despite the other theatrics he doesn’t make an effort to add the demonic echo to his voice. 

A young teenager - fourteen, if Alcor had to guess - looks up at the demon from their cross-legged position on the floor, mouth a perfect ‘O’ of surprise. Their dark face is covered with as many freckles as there are stars outside that window. A strand of purple hair falls over their right eye, standing out from the stark white of the rest of their hair. As Alcor takes them in, they snap their mouth shut and straighten up, though they stay seated. 

His first thought, on looking at them, is that it’s Gideon. That white hair, the freckles. Then he looks at the concealed eye, the fact that he can’t just _know_ who this soul is. What other soul would want to stay hidden except Bill? But then again, the recklessness with the supernatural reminds him of Ford…

“I’m Kaiden Ryan,” they say, “and I didn’t really… expect anything to happen.” They speak in a slightly different language, just a little step to the left from English, but still familiar - another tell that they aren’t on Earth. 

Alcor drops the mask, returning to his (mostly) human appearance. “Oh?” he says, smiling wide and revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. “Demons aren’t really something to play with, kid.” He jerks his head towards the circle of electric, plastic candles surrounding the shoddily drawn summoning circle. “Especially if you’re gonna skimp on the summoning materials.”

“Fire isn’t allowed on the base, this was the best I could do!” Kaiden shouts indignantly, then suddenly lowers his volume. “Sorry. References on demon stuff are really hard to find. I really didn’t think you would show up, especially with the candles. And the… kinda sad circle.” 

If you weren’t a familiar soul then I wouldn’t have, Alcor thinks, but doesn’t speak. Saying ‘Hey, I knew you in a previous life, want to hang out?’ right off the bat, historically, never worked well. And he can’t pinpoint who this used to be - maybe he’s out of practice, maybe it’s because he’s getting mixed signals, but he can’t figure it out. Even with his omniscience. And if there’s one thing Dipper loves, it’s solving a mystery. 

“Well I’m here,” Alcor says, leaning back on air, arms behind his head as he reclines, “what didja need?”

If Kaiden was surprised by the casual attitude of a literal demon, they didn’t show it. Instead they smiled. “I want to get out _there_,” they say, pointing out the window to the gorgeous alien scenery beyond. Alcor notices, belatedly, that their arm is a metal prosthetic. “This is a new base, and the only one on Gliese 667 Cc, so the only people who can leave the valley are the scouting teams the Commander sends out.”

They stand now, and wipe their foot through the poorly made chalk circle on the floor, ‘allowing’ Alcor out. (Something that weak couldn’t hold something like Alcor anyway, but it was cute that they thought it could.) “I’m old enough to go,” they grumble, tucking the strand of purple hair behind their ear, “but the Commander won’t let me.”

“If its a deal you’re after, why’d you let me out of the circle? Bad form. I could just leave.”

“I saw you looking out that window.” Dipper stiffens and Kaiden smiles. The smugness on their face reminds him of Pacifica. “You want to go out there as much as I do. You’ll help me get past the Commander.”

The demon part of Alcor snarls at being caught, at not weaseling a better prize than satisfaction of curiosity out of this child. The human part… 

“If it’s exploring an alien planet you want, kid,” Dipper says, extending a hand, “I’m in.”

They shake.


	2. Sneaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our duo gets closer to their goal.

“We need to get past my dad,” Kaiden whispers. “My little brother is already asleep.” They sneak quietly out of the room they’d summoned Alcor in - an extremely Spartan bedroom, the demon realizes - and into a living room. He spies a pair of feet sticking off the end of a couch, as does Kaiden, and they quietly sneak past. Alcor risks a glance and sees a man, hardly in his mid-thirties, dead to the world. His hair is white, like Kaiden’s, but gets the feeling it’s more from stress than genetics. 

  
The carpeted floor masks Kaiden’s steps (Alcor simply floats an inch off the ground) as they pass their father. However, it also masks the little pattern of footsteps that come up behind them as they approach the front door of the home. “Kai?” a little voice says.

  
Alcor and Kaiden turn quickly to face the room at large. Just behind them is a little boy of about five, hair as bright red as any of Mizar’s descendants, clutching a teddy bear and looking curiously at Kaiden. “Wilbur!” Kaiden hisses, “Why’re you awake?” 

  
“You were yelling funny words in your room really loud.” Wilbur doesn’t lower his own voice at all, and the figure on the couch begins to stir. The child turns towards Alcor. “Who’re you?”

  
“It was Latin, an old Earth language for school, Wil, I’m sorry I was too loud,” Kaiden rushes to say. They gesture frantically to Alcor as their father stretches his arms above his head, slowly waking, in a  _ Do something! _ kind of way. “Just-- Go back to bed, buddy, ok?”

  
“Are you going on an adventure?” Wilbur asks, ignoring his sibling’s apologies and pleas equally. “You’re wearing your clothes but it’s bedtime.” Alcor hadn’t realized it before, had assumed that the one piece garment Kaiden was wearing had been their pajamas, but now he sees that the clothes are more functional than comfortable. The insignia on their shoulder, a large planet with a big star and two tiny stars in the background, make it look more like a uniform. 

  
“Kai isn’t going anywhere,” a gruff voice says tiredly. As the man on the couch finally opens his eyes and turns his head towards the little group by the door, Alcor chooses to ‘do something’ and turn invisible. Kaiden looks surprised by the sudden emptiness beside them, but breathes a sigh of relief. At least they won’t have to explain the literal demon. 

  
As the children’s father approaches, Alcor realizes just what an imposing silhouette he is with his well-built muscles and tall stature. Though his salt-and-pepper beard and stern tone make him look gruff and serious, there’s a tired amusement in his eyes that reminds Alcor of him of Stan. “We’ve discussed this, Kaiden,” he says, shaking his head. “You shouldn’t be going out with the scouts. I’m putting an end to your latest scheme right now.” He looks around the room, brow furrowing. “What…  _ is  _ your latest scheme?”

  
Kai stands innocently, doing their best not to look at the empty space where Alcor hovers invisibly. “I was just gonna sneak past.” No, Alcor thinks,  _ that _ reminds him of Stan. Kaiden’s father squints suspiciously and waves his hand. The lock symbol on the electronic keypad by the door turns red as the door locks, and ‘Parental Controls Enabled’ appears on the screen.

  
Their father huffs and picks up Wilbur, who snuggles into his shoulder. “I’m taking  _ you  _ back to bed,” he says softly to his youngest, and looks back at Kaiden. “Stay here. We need to talk some more.” Kaiden nods, and their father walks off towards another bedroom off the living room. Alcor’s pointed ears pick up Wilbur murmuring about wanting to play with Kaiden’s ‘new friend’. 

  
“I can get us to the airlock if you want,” Alcor whispers to Kai, and the teen jumps in surprise. 

  
“How?” they whisper back, and Alcor can see the mischievous grin growing on their face. The enthusiasm for misadventure and shenanigans.  _ I swear I know this soul _ . “He locked the door.”

  
“Toss me a Snickers or something and it’ll be open in a snap,” Alcor says. Kaiden looks at him - sort of, they estimate where his eyes are and end up making eye contact with his neck - in confusion and Alcor sighs. Right. 23.62 light years away from Earth. Not to mention the actual Earth-years that have passed since Snickers were a thing. “Candy,” he clarifies. “Chocolate, if you’ve got any.”

  
Kai dashes over to the kitchenette connected to the living room and roots around in a drawer. From the bedroom next to Kaiden’s, they hear Mr. Ryan singing a soft lullaby. “Umm, I’ve got a bag of Swedish Fish?”

  
“Really?” Alcor says in disgust. “Two thousand years, and  _ Swedish Fish _ are the 21st century candy that sticks around?” He sighs impatiently and pops back to visibility, extending his hand. “Give it here.” Kai does, and Dipper pops the entire bag - actual bag and all - into his mouth. “Disgusting,” he says with his mouth full, but if he’s honest, it reminds him of home, of trading Summerween candy with Mabel and playing Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who’d have to eat the gross pieces. “Alright,” he says with a wave of his hand.

  
The lock on the door chimes quietly, and the lock symbol turns green. Kaiden quietly cheers in surprise and, without waiting for Alcor, dashes through. Once the door closes behind them, it locks again, and they’re home free. 

* * *

“Thanks for getting me past the Commander,” Kaiden says as they walk through the dim blue-lit hallways. Alcor has turned himself invisible again to avoid being seen by any base personnel that may be awake, so the teen isn’t able to see his surprise. 

“ _ That _ was-- Your  _ dad _ is the Commander?” Alcor says. He throws his hands in the air, a frustrated gesture that makes him feel better even though Kai can’t see it. “I thought it was gonna be, like, this whole big  _ thing _ , a big confrontation or battle or something! With high stakes!” His manner of speech is devolving, he realizes, becoming more and more informal and human and… well, whiney.

  
Kaiden snorts. “It was. The high stakes were I might get double grounded.” They shrug their shoulders, grinning. “But yeah. Smooth ride from here. Anybody else asks if I’m allowed out, I can say I’m going with adult supervision.” 

  
“I’m your adult supervision, huh?”  
  


“Yeah,” Kai says. “I mean you’re, what, two thousand years old?” 

  
“Two-thousand-and-twelve, actually,” Alcor corrects. “And 11 months.” 

  
“That’s oddly specific,” Kai murmurs. “In what few references I read they said you’re just two thousand. That you were born and that set off the--”

  
“Don’t always trust what you read, kid,” Alcor sighs. Once again he’s glad Kaiden can’t see his face. Talking about his human life with anyone but Mizar’s reincarnations is painful, and whoever this soul is, he knows it isn’t Mizar. Kaiden starts to speak again, but Alcor expends a little demonic magic and they suddenly find themselves in front of a sign that says ‘Airlock’. “Oh look at that, we’re here.”

  
Another red lock symbol. Kaiden seems to have expected this and tosses another bag of Swedish Fish in Alcor’s direction before Alcor can even ask. (They aim for Alcor’s invisible knee rather than his hands, but Alcor catches it anyway.) The lock quickly turns green. As they step through, Kaiden starts to reach for gear like they’ve practiced all this before. A tiny compacted air tank, a helmet that looks more like a videogame helmet than any piece of 21st century astronaut gear, a small knife. Alcor becomes visible again as he watches Kai clip everything on. 

  
Once Kaiden is all geared up, the helmet retracts and they look Alcor up and down. “Are you… going out like that?”

  
“Like what?”

  
“In… whatever that is that you’re wearing.” 

  
Alcor allows his genuine offense to show on his face. He gestures down at his clothing, the black and yellow suit with golden stars for buttons, the top hat and bow tie that add that formal touch. “This is a nice outfit!”

  
“There are many ways in which you’re wrong, but I’m not going to argue,” Kaiden says in a voice that sounds like they would  _ love _ to argue the virtues of 21st century fashion. “Are you gonna wear a spacesuit on our space adventure or not?”

  
Alcor grumbles, but  _ of course he is _ , and in a flash of golden sparks he’s wearing an outfit just like Kai’s, but black instead of white and with gold trim instead of red. Kai gives him a gesture that, Alcor thinks, must be the era’s version of a thumbs up, and together they step out of the airlock onto alien soil.


	3. Pond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alcor and Kaiden both find something new.

It’s weird, being on an alien planet. 

He’d done it before, of course, had stepped foot on Mars nearly as soon as he’d learned how. But Dipper hadn’t ever done it like this, in a spacesuit, in a mostly-human disguise, on a planet outside the Solar system, like an _actual astronaut_. He stops, staring down at the red soil, a giddy smile on his face as the toe of his boot traces a semicircle in the dust. 

He spots Kaiden out of the corner of his eye, and behind their mask he can see they’re smiling at him. A cocky, lopsided grin, one he’d seen on Cassie every time she watched him eat ice cream. A “wow, this guy’s a dork” kind of look. Dipper feels the blood rush to his face - which is so stupid he doesn’t even have blood he can’t blush - and he coughs, looking away. But Kaiden doesn’t address him. They just crouch down and pick up a handful of the loose soil, letting it trickle between their fingers.

“So cool,” they whisper. Their voice comes through the communications systems in Dipper’s helmet, and he smiles now too. Straightening, Kaiden points towards the mountains looming in the distance. “Alright, I wanna get out there by the time my dad realizes I’m gone, so we’d better get going Alcor.” They start walking, expecting the demon to follow. 

_Alcor._

Dipper realizes, for the past few minutes, he’d felt like Dipper. For the first time in many, many years, he’d thought of himself as Dipper again.

“Uh, Alcor?”

It feels foreign. And the feeling of it feeling foreign feels foreign. But it’s nice. He is Alcor - at this point, he realizes, his True Name may as well be Alcor (and that’s a revelation to deal with another day.) And if that’s so, he needs someone to know.

“Alcor, are you o--” 

“Dipper,” the demon says as he jogs to catch up with Kaiden. When he gets there, they start walking again, and this time he keeps pace with them. “I’m… called Dipper by friends.” The teen says nothing. “You can do that, if you… want.” It’s stupid, being this vulnerable, when he doesn’t really know this soul, but he hasn’t been this focused, this excited, this… human in a couple decades. And he’s willing to take the risk just to stay like this. And without it being his True Name anymore, there is hardly any danger in telling them.

Kaiden hums in consideration. “Dipper,” they say, trying it out. The demon shivers as he hears his old name spoken for the first time in at least a century. “Huh. I knew a Dipper.” Dipper freezes, but Kaiden continues, “He was an older guy on the ship, died before we reached the colony. Pretty cool guy, but now I guess I know an even cooler ‘Dipper’!” They get that cheesy grin on their face again, and Dipper lightly socks them in the shoulder as they trudge forward. 

By the time the flat ground starts to slope upward into the mountains, the suns and the glowing specks of the other planets in the system are peeking over the horizon. Dipper isn’t tired, can’t be, but he notices that Kaiden’s been dragging their feet for the past mile. Their brisk pace has slowed considerably, and Kaiden keeps looking back towards the domes of the settlement, now a half-dozen miles behind them. But, as Dipper looks closer, he sees that Kaiden’s expression is one of concern, not regret about the distance they still need to cover. 

After another couple worried glances behind them, Dipper caves and sighs. “What’s wrong, kid?”

“I feel like there’s…” Kai shakes their head and picks up the pace again as they start moving upwards. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Is it aliens?” Dipper whispers, looking around the immediate area. No sign of pursuers. He perks up his ears anyhow, now on the lookout for anything strange. “Stars, I hope there’re aliens,” he mutters, staring up at the sky. 

Kai calls back, “No aliens,” crushing Dipper’s hopes instantly. “Though,” they add, seeing the demon’s pout through his helmet, “there are some small bugs and rodent creatures. And some plants. Not sentient, but those are technically aliens, right?”

“They’ll do.” 

Hiking uphill is considerably more tiring. They make another mile of ground, Dipper estimates, before stopping for a snack. Kai pointed out a small pond with flat rocks surrounding it, and tossed down a small device. It blinked a few times with a green light before the light expanded, surrounding the two adventurers with a green dome. Kaiden takes off their helmet and settles down on one of the rocks, Dipper following suit. When grabbing a stash of candy for Dipper back in the base, Kaiden had remembered to pack themself some food as well. It looked rather unappetizing, Dipper thinks, basically just a granola bar. How original. 

Kaiden must have seen his expression, because they grin and offer him one. “It’s not as bad as it looks.” Dipper sticks out his forked tongue. 

Kaiden looks surprised, for a moment, and Dipper suddenly remembers that no matter how human he feels right now - doing all of this, talking to a familiar soul - he hadn’t properly dropped all of his demonic features. His cheeks turn red and he quickly puts up his human glamour, hiding his sharp teeth, his eyes, his non-human tongue. But the kid just looks at him strangely, shrugs, and chows down. “Y’know,” they say, “you don’t have to do that. It hasn’t bothered me yet, why would it now?” Dipper opens his mouth to speak, to say something - ‘thank you’? - but they continue. “But hey, if you can do that when we get back to base, and I can think up some sort of story for why a new human is there? I can get you something way better than this.” Kai tosses Dipper a bag of Swedish Fish. 

Smiling, Dipper sticks out his tongue again, once more forked and demonic. “I’d rather have the ration bar to be honest.” 

They sit for a while while Kaiden eats and drinks. Dipper looks around at the landscape - while the plains the base had been on seemed mostly barren, the mountain seems to have a bustle of small life. Nothing bigger than a rabbit, and certainly nothing familiar, but there’s a whole little ecosystem at this higher altitude. Small bugs crawl on the surface of the pond beside them (bugs on Earth are all so weird Dipper isn’t sure they look any different), and creatures the size of mice chase them down from the edge, their blue scales sparkling in the light of the rising suns. The plants are all strange as well - shapes and colors that are rarely seen in nature on Earth. It’s absolutely beautiful. 

Once Kaiden finishes their snack they join him in silent awe. They lean down by the edge of the light dome and smile, putting their gloved hand just over the surface. On the other side, and little scaled creature sniffs at it before deciding it didn’t like the dome and scampering over to the edge of the pond. They haven’t been out here before, either, Dipper remembers. They’d only seen captive specimens, if they were even brought back alive. 

As they look at the little creatures, Dipper looks at Kaiden. Nearly everything about them - attitude, appearance, verbal ticks, the way they carry themself - points to one friend or another in his lifetime. Kaiden laughs loudly as they watch a creature fall into the water trying to catch a bug, and even their laugh is familiar. Maybe it’s nostalgia making him see things that aren’t there, but the gut feeling that he knew a preincarnation of Kaiden’s soul is unmistakable. 

“Uh, Dipper? Why’re you staring at me?”

Dipper startles and focuses his gaze again, realizing he’d been staring right at their face. “Nothing. It’s nothing.” He stands and puts on his helmet again. “We should get going.”

Kaiden sighs and puts on their own, then picks up the little device. As the dome dissipates, the little scaled creature they had been watching flies up and lands on their shoulder. “Fine, Captain Buzzkill,” they say. “Let’s go.”


End file.
